This one-foot-plus long bird seems to have been squawking a whole bunch more as of late. It’s in a large white cage, on Folsom St, with a sign attached telling passers-by that it bites. This biteyness, combined with the endless squawking have led to my workmates and I to nicknaming it ‘Jerk Bird’. Sorry Jerk Bird, I’m sure you have a nicer name.

In a way, I don’t blame it for being a jerk – I would be too if I were left alone in a cage with no shade, on Folsom St, for two 90-something deg days consecutively. Secondly, it looks like The Wing Foundation has closed up shop – the house is for sale, the site has an apologetic message and all the other birds seem gone.

My neighbor tells me that the bird is worth $20,000. I don’t know where he got that figure.

Perhaps this injustice is what all those wild parrots have been squawking about for god knows how long? And seriously, nobody better get any clever ideas about getting cashing in a $20k feathered payday….

7 Responses to “Mystery of the Maltese Mission Macaw”

That APPEARS to be a hybrid of a Scarlet Macaw and a Blue And Gold Macaw. Worth 20k? Possible I suppose. I’d have to check into that. I think that anybody concerned about the welfare of an animal left unattended and exposed to the elements on a hot day should call animal control, right? And ps this bird can easily snap off a finger (not this PARTICULAR bird necessarily, but the species) so BE CAREFUL.

Yes — I hope that if you don’t get him, the original poster calls Animal Control — it’s been both too hot and too cold this week for a bird like that to be left outside with no shelter, and he could be in real danger.

BTW, the bird’s not being a jerk if he/she bites. I’d bite too, if some random stranger was sticking fingers in my face, and a large, strong beak that can crack nuts open can definitely crack your finger bones in half! Better to warn people than risk someone getting hurt.

I live next to the Wing Foundation house and can tell you that, no, this is not the lone bird remaining at the house. Over the past week-and-a-half, while the owners are showing the house to potential buyers, they moved all the birds (except, apparently, the pictured parrot) to the house’s back patio, which abuts my back patio. This has resulted in over a week of a cacophony of bird noises inundating my house. One of the parrots has quite the vocabulary (“hello,” “time to go!,” “peek-a-boo” among many others.) Anyhow, the bird numbers are dwindling as of late…hopefully finding new homes.

That’s good news – I’m glad it has companions. But boy oh boy, am I hearing those birds go off from across the road this afternoon! I really hope they turn down the chatter every now and then for you, while they find new places to live…